What was Right is Wrong
by impossibleorimprobable
Summary: They're trapped in a closet. The man she hates the most is bleeding out on the floor and Aoko Nakamori has an hour to decide: hand Kaitou Kid over to the men in black, or die. [KaitoxAoko, T for blood/language]
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I can't seem to write KaiAo without angst. Also, I now have waaaay too many wips. Don't worry, I still plan on finishing all of them. It's just that sometimes plot bunnies attack me and then kidnap my brain. And then suddenly I'm starting another fic :P. This one is probably going to be updated soon because I had wanted to do it as a oneshot (but also I felt like breaking it up would be easier to write). So I will be writing until I finish this probably, over the weekend.**

* * *

She was staring at her watch when the first gunshot had been heard from the floor above.

Her head snapped up and her brows knitted together.

Kaitou Kid never fired an actual gun. Her father was in possession of one but wouldn't pull the trigger unless there was absolutely no other choice.

Someone was screaming, and then people were rushing from the stairwells, intermingled with security and police as a second and then a third gunshot sounded. Her heart leapt to her throat. For a few moments she couldn't breathe. And then Aoko was tearing through the crowd up the stairs.

Her father was up there.

Her _father_ was up _there_.

The observatory deck was shrouded in darkness, eerily silent when she emerged, slowing to a stop breathlessly at the top of the stairs.

There was no sign of her father, or any of the task force. The jewel they were supposed to be watching over sat on a pool of black velvet in its glass encasing at the center of the room, glittering a faint red in the moonlight. Unprotected or not, it had not been snatched yet, seeing there was no sign of Kaitou Kid either.

She glanced down at her watch.

8:04. Four minutes late.

An arm snaked around her waist and pulled her into the darkness. She tried to scream but then a gloved hand was being shoved into her face, muffling the sound.

"Please, Nakamori-san. You'll only endanger yourself."

She jammed an elbow into the nearest part of the figure she could reach, spinning away.

Like Aoko thought, it was _him._

Who else could it be?

"Where's my father?"

"Safe," said the man she hated the most, not at all affected by her stunt, not even a little out of breath. "I can promise you that everyone you care about is safe. So please," he wore his signature smirk, but the tone of Kaitou Kid's voice was serious, urgent. "Go back downstairs."

She hated it. The way the color of his suit made it seem like he was glowing under the dim rays of moonlight. The disguised, lilting voice. The nonchalance on his face. The mocking politeness. She hated every phony fiber of the man that stood before her.

"Why should I trust you?" Hot anger rose up in her, and she demanded in a harsh whisper. He thought she was just going to let him escape, just like that? "What do you know about what I care about anyway? You don't know anything about me, and you never can because you're just a dishonest filthy thief-"

"Aoko," he cut her off.

The tirade of insults still bubbled in her, and she should be angry, because he didn't know her, didn't deserve the right, because he was the reason she grew up without a father, the reason she was here, now, all alone.

But there was something so familiar about that voice, about those glittering blue eyes, even hidden behind the monocle, about the way he said "Aoko" without any honorific.

It hurt. A deep ache in a part of her that she couldn't quite name. And it stole her breath away.

" _Please._ "

She came to realize the truth. It wasn't mockery at all.

Kid's gaze flickered to the space behind her and he lunged forward to grab her wrist, tugging her toward him. She felt more than heard the metallic twang by her ear, knew more than saw that there was a bullet hole in the wall where her head had been. Sparks fell into her face and she gasped instead of screamed.

It was a plea.

"We found him," Someone in the dark uttered calmly into what might have been a transmitter of some kind. "There's a girl-yes, we'll take care of it."

"Hold on," Kid clenched his jaw. Something exploded at their feet and a cloud of white smoke enveloped them .For a moment she reached into the haze, searching blindly. And then her fingers closed around his wrist, tighter than any handcuff ever had.

He pulled her into a run.

Another bullet whizzed past her cheek, grazed the top of her ear.

The smoke was clearing too soon and the man in black was hot on their heels.

Kid cursed, and pulled. She stumbled into him with a gasp, hands curling into his lapels even as he put his arms protectively around her.

The third shot was fired. Aoko might have screamed.

 _He_ jerked forward with a grunt, knocking into her. In the dim light she could see him release a long, shaking breath through gritted teeth.

Silence. The _click click_ of an empty cartridge.

One two three. Four five six. Empty. Of course.

Aoko stood in a daze.

And then: "Is that all you can do?" A smirk tugged at his lips as he turned his head away from her. His voice was cold, so cold, colder than she'd ever heard it before.

Her grip tightened reflexively, and she shivered.

"Trust me," his voice caught and choked, breath warm on her cheek.

Although she didn't exactly like it, Aoko found it hard not to trust a man who'd put himself between her and the path of a bullet. She pried her fingers away.

He turned with amazing velocity considering just moments ago he'd been shot, and she didn't quite catch what happened, exactly, but then there was the sound of another gun being fired-and the man in black on the other end of the hall dropped the weapon he had been holding with a curse of pain. An ace of spades, corner bloodied, slid to a slow stop on the floor.

He threw another smoke bomb just as the man in black had given up on reloading and pulled out another gun.

" _Run._ "

She ran.

He fired a few more shots and cards spun through the air. When the smoke cleared again though, both the girl and Kaitou Kid was gone. The trail of blood ended where the smoke bomb had exploded.

The man in black cursed out loud.

Inside his shirt pocket, the transmitter crackled to life.

"Yes, boss. No, boss. They have to be here somewhere. Yes. I'll take care of it." With a smirk, the man in black turned abruptly, switching channels on the transmitter. Barking orders into it, he ordered the rest of his men to seal off the top floor.

The footsteps grew more and more distant. The _ding_ of an elevator could be heard. Doors slid open. Doors slid closed. The elevator whizzed as it made its way down.

In the supply closet, locked from the inside, the girl, pressed against the boy, released the breath she hadn't known she had been holding.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: the amount of research I did for this was INSANE, and I'm STILL afraid that everything is still BS. Athough some of the more hardcore medical stuff comes later, I guess. Finally, we're getting into the plot~ Poor Kaito, he had to go through all of that without painkillers...**

* * *

The immediate danger gone, Aoko sucked in a deep breath.

Calm. She had to keep calm.

If nothing, she was an policeman's daughter. She could do this.

The closet was relatively small. Not enough to be uncomfortable, but enough that they didn't have room to plan much of an ambush if it came down to it. There were no windows, and even if there were, she doubted it would be a good idea to climb out of the window of the top floor of a skyscraper anyway.

The top floor had been sealed off. If the man that had been shooting at them had no qualms about killing them, then she had no reason to assume the others would. Escaping was not an option, then. She reached into her pocket. Damn. Her phone was charging on her kitchen table right now. Maybe the service intercom embedded into the wall at the door? That was linked only to the control room. No. Too dangerous. They had no way of knowing where the man in black had gone. One call, made to the wrong place, and their location would be exposed.

Nothing to communicate to the police with, then.

Trying to still the shaking of her hands, she reached out to make sure the closet door was securely fastened. It was. But the door wasn't bulletproof. If they were discovered, they would be cornered. There wasn't another way out.

Behind her, he let out a soft groan.

She turned frantically, putting a finger to her lips.

They would have to be very, _very_ quiet.

Kid nodded weakly, giving her a pained smile. In the time she'd been taking stock, he'd managed to shift himself into an upright position, propped against the wall. "My apologies."

Behind him, the blood was running down the wall in rivulets.

Her gaze followed the trail to the floor. A pool had gathered.

Of course. He'd been shot. God. _He'd been shot._

Aoko cursed under her breath, moving toward him.

Kid made a noise in the back of his throat and tried to draw away from her. "-there's really no need-" He cut himself off with a hiss of pain when she ripped the cape, now riddled with holes, off of his shoulders.

Blood blossomed beneath her fingertips.

 _Come on, Aoko. Think. What's going to kill him?_

There was no exit wound. The bullet must've caught on a bone.

Her brain supplied her with the logical answer.

 _Blood loss._

He struggled against her as best he could as she pried his suit jacket off, curling in on himself, hiding away from her.

"You need to stop moving." She sighed, sitting back on her heels. "I won't try to unmask you."

It was as if he hadn't heard her.

" _Oh for the love of…_ If the bullet's still in there, moving will only make you die faster. Just let me help. I'll stay away from the hat and the stupid monocle, I swear."

Kid made no discernible response, but he did still, and nodded tersely.

"Besides," she grumbled as she went to work, "It wouldn't be fair if I arrested you like this."

The hole in his blood-soaked shirt made it easier to pull it open. The threads had already been burned through by the bullet and came apart easily under her tugging.

Only now in the complete silence did she notice that he was breathing oddly. His shoulders drew up and down fast. The passage of air was oddly silent, and accompanied by a soft clicking.

Her heart sank. It must be his lung; god, the bullet must have gone through it. Now she had to factor the fact that his lung might collapse into her search for dressing. Sealing the air passage was as important as stemming the blood flow in this case, and she needed to find something, fast. At the rate the blood seemed to be flowing out of him, Kid was going to go into shock.

Aoko's gaze fell upon the shelf in the corner. Plastic wrap. Yes. Her father had been talking about it just the day before. The Suzukis, being ridiculously rich, had brought in designer furniture from overseas specifically for the exhibit. Madame Suzuki had been yelling at the worker to be careful not to damage the pieces, since they had been shipped in careful wrapping to prevent contact with even a single speck of dirt.

She pulled the roll of discarded wrap from the shelf, as well as the roll of duct tape that was on the shelf beside it, and looked for something like gauze to go under it. A stack of towels in the corner proved to be the closest she could get.

Crossing the short distance between them, she dropped to her knees behind him.

"This is going to hurt. Remember, you can't make a sound." Aoko whispered.

His fingers, hidden beneath bloodied gloves, wrapped around her hand for a short moment, squeezing.

And then he let her go. "Go ahead."

She pressed the towel to the entrance wound as gently as she could. Though she didn't exactly like him, he wasn't a threat now, and she had been the reason he'd been shot. She didn't want to hurt him unnecessarily. He made no noise, but tensed beneath her hand. Over his shoulder, she could see his fists gripped so tight, his knuckles went white. Ripping off a sheet of the plastic wrap, she pressed it on top of the towel and sealed off the wound with the duct tape.

The form beneath her hand trembled. His eyes had closed and he inhaled short, quick.

Kid had bitten down so hard red blossomed where his teeth met his bottom lip. Hastily, she reached over to press her fingers to his wrist.

Beneath her finger, his pulse thrummed.

His eyes fluttered open and when he caught her looking, he'd offered Aoko a weak, bloodied smile.

Faced with that smile, a gruff "Sorry," was all she could manage before she sat back down, and looked away.

And now they were back at square one. How to escape relatively unscathed.

A floor beneath them, the police inspector on scene had not noticed the disappearance of his daughter. Having been gassed and knocked out for a considerable amount of time during his confrontation with Kid, and then woken up in on the party floor with the rest of his men, Nakamori-keibu was more concerned about Kaitou Kid. He'd been present for the first gunshots, had immediately informed Jirokichi Suzuki of the circumstances and contacted the police, but when he'd sent the squad to the elevators, he'd found them jammed. When he tried the stairs, he found them locked down.

Knowing almost nothing about the situation above was not doing wonders for Nakamori-keibu's nerves, and it showed.

And there were pairs of eyes, watching.

A child with glasses in the middle of the crowd, peering over the shoulder of the young woman who was holding him.

A blonde foreigner in a brown tweed suit, standing in the corner, peering over the rim of his punch glass.

Unfortunately, neither Conan Edogawa nor Saguru Hakuba had a chance to do anything before the party room was plunged into darkness.

" _Ladies and gentleman,"_ A voice so different from the usually smooth tones of the Kaitou Kid, scrambled and scratching oddly in a way that unsettled, boomed from the PA-the announcing system-in the utter silence. " _Welcome...to tonight's magic show."_

The announcement was going through the entire building.

Conan Edogawa told Ran that he was going to the bathroom and made a quick escape. The culprit, whoever it was (and Conan was now very sure that it was not Kid) had to be in the control room, but where was that?

Saguru Hakuba set his drink down on the nearest waiter's tray, and slipped away via a side door.

" _The trick that will be performed today is simple...any volunteers? A magic show is not complete, after all...without a lovely assistant…"_

"Who the hell is that?" Jirokichi Suzuki demanded angrily. Beside him, his niece Sonoko had clutched on tightly to her friend's arm.

"Not Kid, that's for sure." Nakamori-keibu looked up worriedly.

" _To the inspector's daughter...You have one hour to complete the trick...Give up the Kaitou Kid and we'll let you live...If you don't, we will find you, and we will kill you."_


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: oh heyyyy is it time to screw up MORE medical procedures because I AM DOWN FOR THAT let's pretend that Kaito will survive this even though a person in real life might not, k? Also...I'm so sorry for the super long chattiness in this chapter...I needed Aoko to have an ideological conflict, and what better way to do that than have a talk with your worst enemy about life and death?**

* * *

Nakamori-keibu's eyes widened as he turned to stare in what could only be described as absolute horror.

Outside the party hall, waiting for the elevator, Hakuba paused for a long moment and just stared at the air in front of him. The look in his eye was incomprehensible. And then he looked down to set a timer on his watch. He didn't look up when the ding signaled the sound of the elevator, didn't look up when the doors rolled open, didn't look up when he stepped into it.

"Wait!"

He finally did look up at the childish voice to see a boy, around six or seven, with glasses, a skateboard tucked under his arm, running into the elevator.

Hakuba bent down. "I would wait for the next elevator, little boy. It's not safe for children, where I'm going."

He was already moving to close the elevator doors when the boy stepped inside, interrupting yet again.

"The control room, right?" He said, something akin to a smirk on his face. "In the basement? Where all of the lights, systems, and, most importantly, _sound_ is coming from."

Hakuba raised an eyebrow, but beyond that, no sign of the surprise he felt crept into his face.

The boy said nothing, merely turned to press the button for the floor they were going to.

"Who are you?" Hakuba asked as the elevator doors closed, not a trace of emotion in his voice.

"Edogawa Conan. Tantei-sa."

Silence.

The elevator went down slowly.

 _Fifteen minutes._

It had been five minutes since she managed to dress his wound, and another ten since they've been in the closet. Half an hour since the first gunshot, or so she thought.

Aoko suddenly understood how Hakuba-kun could be so precise about timing.

Fifteen minutes. Then the announcement.

She looked up when the voice permeated the silence, nearly jumping, and then cursing under her breath at herself for her jitters.

It had taken her another two minutes to understand what the voice had been trying to convey _specifically_ to _her._

Aoko's mouth went dry and her gaze landed involuntarily, traitorously on Kaitou Kid.

She couldn't. Could she?

He was staring at her (had he been staring all this while?).

She held her breath and waited, not really knowing why, and told herself it was ridiculous. All of this was ridiculous. There was no decision to be made. There wasn't a choice at all-

He reached for her with an outstretched hand, and his bare fingers brushed against her cheek, ghosting over the broken skin at the top of her ear, smoothing an errant lock of hair away from her face.

Aoko first instinct was to flinch.

His gloves were crumpled in his lap and he was smiling that damn smile again. She didn't know what exactly she'd been expecting.

Fear? That would have been uncharacteristic.

She watched as his chest rose and then fell, quickly, like he was taking a deep breath. His face never changed but his eyes never left hers, and he was watching with so much intensity, like he wanted, needed to burn her into his memory, like she was going to be the last thing he ever saw-

Kid closed his eyes. "Do it," he said quietly.

The words tumbled into the silence, fading harmlessly out of existence.

Her breath caught in her throat.

If she wasn't afraid she might hurt him worse than he already was, Aoko might have punched him in the face.

What the _hell_?

He didn't give her time to protest, words already flowing out of his mouth, light and lilting on his tongue, like he was discussing the weather or the quality of a meal rather than life and death. "We both know that my current situation is not ideal." No sane person with proper reasoning could deny that. The face behind the monocle was thin, impossibly young, and growing paler, lined with pain despite the easy smile that curled at his lips. "I'm afraid my presence would only hinder your chances of escape, Nakamori-san. If they're offering your life in exchange for mine, so much the better-"

" _Stop_ it," She growled, unable to stop herself. "Stop talking like that."

A raised eyebrow. He chuckled lightly, sounding alarmed, though his eyes remained unchanged, unfathomable. ""Like what, Nakamori-san?"

He wasn't supposed to be like this. He wasn't supposed to be...whatever the hell it was he was playing at. God, it was absolutely _infuriating._ She knew _what_ he was better than anyone-Kaitou Kid was a _thief. A criminal.._ Aoko wouldn't be so easily fooled.

"Like _that."_ She hissed with narrowed eyes, fingers clenched into a fist in her skirt. There was blood on her hands and on her clothes, blood that wasn't hers, and she didn't know why she was angry, didn't know why it was the kind of wet anger that choked her voice in her throat and made tears spring to her eyes instead of the hard kind that lent her the nerve to shout obscenities at the top of her lungs. "The hell are you playing at anyway?"

Maybe even then, she already suspected.

"...I apologize...I didn't...mean to distress you." He'd mistaken her anger for something else. "I simply thought...well…" a pause, and a chuckle, this time less light, less effortless, "You hate me."

He said it like the fact of the matter pained him. Like it was capable of paining him. She didn't say anything. Couldn't say anything.

Softly under his breath, Kid muttered to himself. "...This isn't meant to be hard."

" _Not meant to be_ -What exactly do you take me for?" She exploded, wiping her eyes fiercely with the back of her sleeve, grounding her teeth. "Is _that_ what you think of me? You think-you think I could just…let you go die? Just because...I...hate you?" Her stomach did flip flops, lurching as the horrible realization that she _could_ sank to her very core, but she pushed the nausea away to continue. "You think that's ever easy?"

Aoko's stomach tightened with something that might have been hurt. She turned away from him, drawing her limbs to her chest.

There was a long, long silence.

"Nakamori-san," he sighed.

Nothing.

"Aoko...dammit...just listen to me."

There it was again.

 _Aoko._

"...That's not...what I meant...and you know it...-dammit, would you please just _look at me_ -I don't... I wouldn't...blame you...for choosing to _live._ "

And god, he meant it, didn't he? He meant every word and she hated him. God, she _hated_ him.

It was odd how the only time Kid appeared to be sincere was when he said her name. It was like a switch he flipped on and off. One second he would be Kaitou Kid and the next...something painfully familiar. It was like playing Russian Roulette trying to pick out which was which. And she didn't know which one was real anymore.

Every word ripped through her like a bullet. He really thought of her…like _that_. And to be honest, she wasn't sure if she was more angry that he did or that she was starting to care that he did.

The resigned gentleness with which he was speaking to her was suddenly abnormally sickening.

She peered over her arms lethargically. Only now had she noticed he was shaking as he pushed back dark, matted hair. A visible sheen on his face indicated the sweat on his brow and he gulped in air as desperately as a fish out of water, like every sentence that came out suffocated him.

Some unnamed emotion twisted in her stomach. Had he been like this the entire time? Did he get worse, and she just...didn't notice, because she was too busy trying to maintain her moral high ground?

"Look...can't hold it together for much longer... have to do it now….while I can still stay upright... by myself. I….chose this... and I promised myself...that no one gets hurt on my account," his voice was low, gravelly with some kind of emotion, shaking from exertion. A pause. His gaze flickered to her face.

"'Specially not you," he managed to choke out in a hoarse whisper.

Silence ensued, except for the deep, quick breaths he was drawing. What could someone say to that?

The laugh, harsh and low, tumbled from her lips before she could stop it. How had he become the high and mighty one all of sudden? Where was all of this nobleness coming from? Kaitou Kid, notorious thief, criminal, lowlife, suddenly growing a conscience? Suddenly sprouting honor?

Or, was she simply going mad?

"...Do I get a choice?" Aoko said, finally, leveling her gaze with his, and decided she must be.

He looked at her incredulously, saying nothing. She didn't let on that she was as surprised as he was.

A meager sense of triumph welled up in her. "You're trembling." She pointed out softly.

It was the truth. He was also still breathing heavily, shoulders heaving with every gasp. Her gaze locked on to the bloodied cape she'd thrown to the side when she'd been patching up his wound, and she got to her feet a little clumsily to go get it.

Even though the exterior injury had been sealed off, his lung had been hit. There was bound to be bleeding, even though she couldn't see it, and she had no idea how much blood he'd lost already.

Too much, probably, judging by the way he'd gone pale and his skin was colder than ice.

He continued to watch her with wide eyes when she draped the cape around his shoulders, hoping it would lend a little extra warmth.

"You need to breathe," Aoko told him sternly.

He made a faint noise in the back of his throat. "Please," Kid managed to get out. "-Please just-"

"No," She crossed her arms, staring him down. "And don't give me any of that 'I'm already dying' crap. Dying's too easy."

"You….can't…"

"And you can?" She stuck out her chin. "I won't let you off this easily, Kaitou Kid. My father's going to arrest you and you _are_ going to jail."

The man was stubbornly trying to protest again, when something behind them crackled and popped into life.

"... _Aoko_ - _san_ … _?_ "

The intercom. It was the service intercom.

Aoko held her breath.

" _Are you there, Aoko-san?"_ The voice on the other end asked again, in a composed whisper.

The unmistakable, precise pronunciation.

She pressed the button with shaking hands and spoke into the receiver. "Hakuba-kun?"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: This is gonna be a longer AN since we're about halfway through this story! First things first, as many of you lovely readers with your keen eyes for details pointed out, I TOTALLY missed out on the fact that Hakuba and Conan already know each other in canon. They interact so little I just kind of...forgot...while I was writing it...SO let's pretend that I totally knew exactly what I was doing and I set this story in the timeline before the two of them meet, ok? I mean, DC's timeline is super mixed up at all times (they have winter episodes next to summer episodes, etc.) so I'm going to give myself a bit of leeway for this one. Aaaand I don't want to just go back and fix it bc it feels a bit like cheating haha. Thanks to you all** **, one truth has prevailed~ *does the cheesy point at the camera***

 **Secondly, I want to thank all of you once again. I don't really get to say this a lot or individually (since I'm more used to review-reply systems like the ones on AO3), but I love y'all who leave me comments and faves and follows~ It makes me super happy and gives me the motivation to update and stick with this! Hopefully I do right by y'all and the story's up to par.**

 **Lastly, I just wanted to mention that this story will probably come to a close soon. I have 2-3 more chapters to do before everything wraps up. However, I have some exams coming up in a week and a half, and I desperately need to study, so the update might be slow. I do have an extra chapter cushion but usually I don't post that until I have the chapter after it written. However, after I take my tests the classes should ease up too and I should have a lot of time to update. So yeah, just wanted you to know that updates will be slow/nonexistant in the next two weeks :D**

* * *

" _Aoko-san_ ," Hakuba was careful to keep his voice barely audible. " _It's me. I'm speaking to you from the control room in the basement of the building_. _I see you are, indeed, still on the top floor._ "

"I'm-I'm in a closet-Can you tell where I am?"

" _Only when this line is connected."_

 _"_ Does my father know?"

" _Nakamori-keibu is working on the blockades on the stairs. As of right now, we have no way of getting help to you_. _Even communication is temporary. When I came down here, I couldn't find the culprit. However, I doubt it's likely to stay that way._ "

The sound of something rustling-papers, maybe?

For a moment Hakuba sounded more distant, exasperated, as if speaking to someone else in the room with him, and then his voice was right next to her ear again, " _Aoko-san, this is important. Is Kuroba-kun with you?_ "

A frown crept into her face. "No. Kaito disappeared before I went upstairs-" her heart leaped to her throat and the blood drained out of her face. "Oh god, is he ok?"

"- _Never_ _mind_ _that, he's-fine_. _What_ _about_ _Kaitou_ _Kid_?"

She casted a glance over her shoulder. "He got shot. The bullet is still in there and I tried to dress the wound as well as I could...but he's got a punctured lung and there's a lot of blood...I...I think he might be in shock, but I can't be sure."

On the other end of the line, Hakuba cursed in English. There's a short pause as someone near him said something, but then he returned. " _What do you intend to do?"_

"I don't know what I can do, aside from trying to keep him warm..."

" _Not that, Aoko-san. I mean about the culprit's offer."_

"Glad to know you think so highly of me." She couldn't help huff a little. "What is with you all today? You know I'm not going to do that."

" _I'm simply reminding you that you have the option, although I, too, would rather you didn't."_

"I'll try to keep him alive as long as I can." She affirmed. "How long _that_ is, on the other hand…"

" _We will try to rescue you before the hour is up."_

"Is there anything else I can do?" Aoko asked, twisting her hands idly. She always hated being helpless, and here she was, stuck in a closet.

Help on the way was good. Help on the way in the form of Saguru Hakuba was doubly good-as much as she trusted the Kaitou Kid Task Force, they weren't exactly known for being combat ready. She wasn't sure that they would be much help in a situation where the enemy shot to kill.

 _"Stay put, and stay quiet. Keep Kaitou Kid alive if you can. There isn't a good way to do this...we have no accurate way to estimate how many they have patrolling the top floor right now, and we don't know where their leader is at this moment. The only thing we can do is try to sneak past the guard. I don't much like the odds either, but, if what you've told me is accurate…then we don't have much time."_

"Ha...kuba…"

Aoko turned around, frowning.

Kid gestured vaguely at her.

"... _Kid?"_

She sighed, and tried the best she could to shift him within range of the receiver without adding further injury. It wasn't particularly easy, since he leaned heavily on her shoulder. But he did feel lighter than the normal dead weight a fully grown man would have been.

She filed it away, worrying at her bottom lip with her teeth. Perhaps it would be useful information once they got out of this.

"Not counting the man...who made...the announcement, they have five or six members at the most...one at...each entrance, including the fire escape...and one...guarding the jewel...I think…that's why...they made the offer. They don't...have...the manpower to spare...to search...for us...and if...you...let me go...I can...draw their attention away long enough...for you to...get Aoko... out of here…"

" _It may be worth chancing...but, it's up to her. Aoko-san?"_

She glanced at him out the corner of her eye, gritting her teeth. "No."

The surety in her answer scared her. Was she really so eager to die, especially on account of this man that she'd hated?

Maybe, she justified to her thoughts, it was because somewhere, beyond the immediate mechanical thought process to stay alive, Aoko knew that they needed to walk out of this unharmed to ever continue going on like they have been before. If he came out of this with nothing but a scar on his back, then she'd still be the inspector's daughter, and he'd still be the man she hated more than anything. Nothing would have to change.

But if he _died_...

In any case, she simply couldn't allow him to be murdered on her watch.

 _"_ Hakuba-Listen to me..She's just…a civilian…"

"And you're just bleeding out. How long do you think you'll be able to last anyway?"

"Long enough..." he turned his eyes to her. "It's...the only...good...way...isn't it?"

" _I cannot argue with that. He's right, Aoko-san. And, if this is some sort of underground grudge...perhaps it is best that we let it alone. I do not wish for more casualties than is necessary."_

They were right. They were both right. This had nothing to do with her. If they had been trying to convince her to give him up in exchange for her life, it would be a different matter, but in this case, it was a perfectly viable plan.

She was just a bystander, caught in the crossfire. It made sense to just leave it to the professionals. There would be no direct taint on her conscience. Whether he lived or died would be entirely up to him.

And yet. She knew that this was a suicide mission.

She'd said so many times before that she wished Kid was dead. But, Aoko realized, with growing desperation, that no matter what she told herself in her desperate bid to find solid footing again, something had already changed, irrevocably and forever.

He shouldn't be play the hero in this situation. He simply couldn't be. Heroes didn't crack open safes or steal expensive jewels.

 _And yet._

Until today, she hadn't thought honor amongst thieves was a real and tangible thing. Honor in someone like Kaitou Kid….was something she'd never imagined to be possible. Something she never wanted to be possible, because of this exact moment, this feeling stirring up inside her that was something like pain.

Aoko swallowed, looking away. "You can barely form coherent sentences-"

" _If I may…"_ a new, childish-voice popped up in the receiver.

Startled, she whipped around.

" _Conan Edogawa, tantei sa. What else do you know?_ "

 _"_ Snake...their leader…his name is Snake..." Kid ticked off, "They're...looking for a...specific gem. They have been...for years." something akin to a smile could be seen on his face. "And they...suck...at aiming."

Aoko bit back a dry retort that they very clearly did not, especially given his present predicament.

A pause. " _Snake, like snake wine…"_

"Tantei-kun?"

"- _in any case, the elevator to the observatory only goes from the party floor to the roof,"_ Hakuba interrupted, " _So the culprit must have had to go from the party room to the basement to make the announcement. Logically speaking, the basement, where all sound is controlled, would have been the first place the police would have searched for. The culprit must have anticipated that."_

 _"Nakamori-keibu sealed off everything accessible from his end higher than the party floor, so the culprit is either still wandering the building or he used the service elevator. When this building was constructed, they were required to have a mechanical room every ten floors to hold equipment, only accessible by a service elevator. Since the party is on the 75th floor, it's entirely possible that Nakamori-keibu could have missed the culprit going to the observatory five floors above. We can get security to do a check, but if they're short on hands, I doubt he's just wandering aimlessly on the bottom levels. What's bothering me is this: if what Kid-san has told us is true, and they're after the gem, why do they want to kill him?"_

 _"_ Because...I'm…"

"A massive pain in the ass?" She grumbled.

"I'm...a...better thief-" His fingers flexed and twitched toward his jacket..

 _Oh you have got to be kidding me._ Aoko dipped her hand into his pocket. The tips of her fingers brushed against something cool and smooth.

"The ruby," she breathed, pulling it out.

"It's not...the one they're looking for but….they don't...know that…"

"...Then what is it that I saw? When I first came up here?"

"Fake," he choked.

"... _If we do as Kid-san says and use him as bait, Hakuba-niichan and I could sneak up on the bad guys, and Aoko-neechan can escape. If Kid-san can stall for a little time with that jewel and we utilize this trick,"_ here shuffling was heard, and Hakuba exclaimed about something, " _We can hopefully retrieve Kid-san as well, in the confusion."_

Her brows furrowed as the boy on the other end of the line explained how he'd found that the roof was apparently rigged with some kind of complicated magic trick.

 _"_...I'd forgotten…" Kid breathed by way of explanation, "We'd set that up…"

She shushed him. They worked out the details over the intercom.

" _So? What do you think, Aoko-neechan?"_

Aoko bit her lip.

What was required of her was simple. Ridiculously simple. She was supposed to help Kaitou Kid to the observatory at nine o' clock on the dot. And then she was supposed to melt into the shadows. She had a very bad feeling about all of this-the plan seemed almost too simple, and entirely too dependent on Hakuba and Conan's end going off without a hitch. In fact, the very thought of involving a _child_ in any part of this at all was vaguely sickening.

But.

It really was the best (and only) plan they could have. At the very least, though there was no guarantee, there was a slightly higher chance of everyone walking away from this still breathing.

She nodded tersely to the man beside her. "Alright."

Hakuba returned. _"If we're all set, then, my...little assistant...and I will find that service elevator to the top floor as soon as we contact Nakamori-keibu and tell him about what we're doing here. Unfortunately, that means we will have to cut our communication short. I've already informed Nakamori-keibu about this place, though. A part of the squad will be coming here to prepare an ambush in case the culprit comes back to make another announcement. Don't connect unless you know the person trying to reach you is the police."_

"I can do that. I grew up around the Kaitou Kid Task Force. I know every single one of them."

" _Remember, for this to work well, you have to be in the observatory by the windows by 9:00."_

"We'll be there." She swallowed. There were a lot of "tries" in this half-hatched plan of theirs. "Hakuba-kun?"

" _Yes?"_

"If we don't make it out of this, will you tell my father I love him?"

He didn't interrupt, didn't admonish her for thinking like that. Hakuba was good like that. " _I will."_

And, if it was her last chance to say it…

"Kaito too," She managed to choke out.

"... _Aoko-san?"_

"Tell him in those exact words. Please."

" _I will._ "There was a short pause on the other end. "... _but somehow, Aoko-san, I think he already knows."_

The line crackled and went dead.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: SO I have apparently survived my exams (actually i have one more tomorrow, but pfffft if I don't know any biology at this point in time it's not likely I'll learn any more) and we should be right back on schedule with the updating thing soon~ Kaito and Aoko catch a mini break, before all of the action starts up (and bc I've already written that chapter as a cushion, I can tell you, it's quite a bit of action :P)**

 **Honestly, I hope Aoko's ideology shift is happening slowly but surely enough to be believable, but I'm not sure. My goal is to have her at least be a little more open-minded about this whole "Kaitou Kid" thing by the end of the fic, since Kaito kind of needs that. Idek. How believable is her journey, do you think? ONLY A FEW MORE CHAPS TILL WE'RE DONE, HANG IN THERE, GUYS~**

 **Also, a big thanks to hebiaczek for reminding me that getting shot in the lung probably produces some bloody coughing~ I'm still fudging the medical side of things a bit bc I need him to survive for a while, sorry if it bugs you haha**

* * *

Aoko sighed, and sat back on her heels. Beside her, Kid was watching her with wide eyes. Her gaze fell on him lethargically.

He was paler than the moonlight, and there was a strange, intense emotion in his eyes that scared her, for some inexplicable reason.

"What?" she whispered.

He made a choking noise.

"Hey," concern welled up in her as he began to cough, "Hey, don't die on me, okay?"

No response.

She shifted so she could rub his back, carefully pretending not to see the speckles of blood that stained the front of his shirt.

Eventually the coughing subsided again, and he heaved long, rasping breaths like a drowning man.

Kid still said nothing.

She tried again, poking his arm.

Still nothing.

"Kid," she frowned. "You have to stay awake."

He peered at her from the heap of white cloth, silent and unmoving.

"Jeez," Aoko muttered under her breath. No one would be able to tell that Kaitou 1412 was actually supposed to be an internationally wanted criminal based on the picture he made now. If anything, she was more inclined to say that he was like a lost child-confused, and maybe even just the tiniest bit scared.

Reaching out slowly, careful not to startle him, she pressed her fingers to his wrist. His pulse fluttered all too faintly, and he still shivered. The skin beneath her fingertips chilled her.

"Move over," biting back a curse, she let go of his wrist and nudged him gently.

He looked at her with wide, alarmed eyes.

"Go on."

He did. She crawled under the cocoon of the cape, taking his hands between her own warm ones.

Kid blinked at her for what seemed like an eternity. She stared straight into his eyes and waited for him to finish fighting with himself.

"...thank you…" He said, at last, before his voice gave way to another coughing attack.

Whether that was because he had some semblance of trust in her or if he was simply too tired to argue anymore she couldn't tell, but he relaxed as much as he could, allowing her to press herself into his side.

"Don't get the wrong idea either," Aoko mumbled after the fit died down, as if just remembering. "I'm just trying to keep you warm and conscious till we can get out of here."

"I know…" He smiled, a quick, slight lift to the corners of his lips, and his head drooped, lolling against her shoulder. The body wracking coughs had taken a lot out of him, she suspected. She didn't want to think about the damage he was doing to his internal organs.

"At least let me take the hat off if you're going to do that."

He made a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat.

She took that as a sign that he didn't mind. It was dark enough, that with the shadows that his bangs cast onto his face and the monocle glinting in the moonlight, creating the illusion of asymmetry, she wouldn't have been able to make anything out anyway. The hat came away easily, and she found soft, dark locks beneath her hands, accompanied by the scent of something pleasant and familiar. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on. It hit her like a punch to the gut anyway.

It was hard, sometimes, to remember that beneath the disguise, Kid was just a man. Maybe just a boy, if the evidence she'd managed to find tonight was any indicator. She'd have to ask Hakuba later-he'd postulated that Kaitou Kid was just seventeen, and at first she didn't believe him, but now, she was inclined to. There was something so ridiculously human about this supposed magician under the moonlight that it almost shocked her. In fact, nearly everything he'd done tonight had shocked her, and, she realized in the back of her mind that she knew nothing about him. The man who's supposed to be her arch-nemesis, the only man she'd ever mustered up the will to decide to hate, completely and irrevocably, and she didn't know anything about him.

She supposed she lost sight of that particular fact somewhere along the way when she began to equate heists with crushing loneliness, and nights became imperceptibly long, when she began to see Kaito more than she saw her father, when everything fell apart around her and her tou-san was still off chasing that damn thief.

And Kaitou Kid may have been the one who stole her father from her, but she knew that Ginzo Nakamori gave chase more than willingly. Aoko wasn't a fool, though many believed her to be.

So, it wasn't fair, she realized with a pang of guilt, but it was easier to hate him than her father. And now, it seemed it wasn't altogether too easy to hate him either.

She flushed when she found herself subconsciously stroking his hair, and her gaze drifted to his face to see if he'd noticed. He didn't. For some unfathomable reason, she continued her ministrations.

He was falling asleep.

"Sheesh." Aoko poked Kid, in the cheek this time. "I told you, you need to stay awake."

He leaned into her hand almost instinctively. "Sorry."

There was something oddly familiar about that too. One thing seemed to stack up on another and there was this feeling that she just couldn't shake. And if she had to try to decide-if there was no way, from this point on, that she could go on like before without knowing-then she had to know, didn't she? A short pause, but in the end, she couldn't keep down the question tearing from her throat. "Who even are you anyway?"

Silence.

"I know you can't answer that. You don't have to confirm or deny either... That wouldn't be fair," She swallowed. "But...I just...get the feeling that you know me. Personally."

He tensed for a millisecond, which caused another round of coughing, and then relaxed again. "What..makes you think that?"

"Most people don't just...call strangers by their first name. No honorific. And...it's not just me either. You know Hakuba-kun too, don't you?"

The implications sank in now that she'd voiced it out loud, and she suddenly regretted it. What if the pieces fell into place, just like that? She tried to imagine what it would be like. People like Keiko, or Akako-chan, or Hakuba-kun, or... Would she be able to hate them, if she knew they were behind the mask? What about people even closer to her? Would she be able to hate her father, if he was a thief?

"Aoko…?"

"What?"

There was a moment of silence and for a second she almost thought he was going to tell her everything.

His gaze was locked on her and he reached out, as if to touch her face, but thought better of it. Quietly, he said, "I'm sorry."

She swallowed, forcing down the "for what?" that tried to jerk free. Aoko wasn't sure she could deal with the consequences of knowing anymore. Instead, she bit down on her lip hard and looked away under the pretext of checking the time. Even so, she could feel his gaze on her.

"8:50. If we want to make it in time, in your condition, we're going to have to leave soon."

Kid nodded, and made to get to his feet. She gave him a look. He sighed, and allowed her to loop an arm beneath his shoulders. When they finally stood upright again, he leaned heavily against her.

She shivered. It really had been warmer under the cape after all.

Forty five minutes. She chanced a look at his face. Gritted teeth, sweat glistening on his forehead, whether from shock or fever already setting in she didn't know. It'd been forty five minutes. Forty five minutes and her world had turned upside down.

 _Focus,_ she delivered a mental slap, _Save the philosophizing for when we make it out._

 _If_ they make it out...

"Hey," before she even fully knew what she was doing, Aoko was speaking again. "I want to thank you before we go. In case..." _in case neither of us gets out of this,_ "In case you disappear right afterward."

He looked at her. She was struck once again with exactly how blue his eyes were. "...huh?"

Aoko swallowed, and forced herself not to look away. "I'm guessing you're the reason my father and the squad weren't on the top floor when the bullets started flying. You saved their lives." Her fingers brushed against the edge of the plastic wrapping she'd made, and she added, "And mine."

He gave her a sad, sad smile. "You're not...out of the woods...yet."

"Still," She persisted, feeling the need to say _something_ before they go, "Thank you. You're not...bad, as far as they go. Thieves, I mean."

"...What's this, Nakamori-san...?" A faint smile. " A change...of heart..?"

"...No," she said firmly. Now that she was aware of it, it was definitely peculiar when he addressed her as Nakamori-san rather than Aoko, like something was just...wrong. "I'm just putting things into perspective. I suppose I should apologize too. Hating someone you know nothing about is just...not fair."

But now was really not the time to be thinking about that, and who he might possibly be, as her hand settled around the knob of the closet door, casting one last look at the intercom. It was silent. Hopefuly, the plan had gone off without a hitch on the other side. She didn't give him the chance to respond. "You ready?"

He stared at her, for the longest time, the expression in his eyes unreadable.

She held her breath, despite not knowing why, and waited, for something, _anything,_ to happen.

"...when you are…" he finally said.

Aoko exhaled, somehow disappointed. What had she been hoping for anyway? Absolution? That was a silly idea in and of itself.

Turning away and no longer looking over her shoulder, she pulled the door open.

Floors below them, their partners also sprang into action.

"Exactly _how_ is this going to help?" Hakuba had crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at the boy.

"Just trust me," Conan Edogawa smirked in a way that was decidedly not at all childish, fiddling with the remote that was to set off the evening's magic trick. "Have you informed Nakamori-keibu of his daughter's whereabouts?"

"Yes. I've also called for an ambulance. No, they don't know who they're supposed to be treating. But that's beside the point. The barricade of the top floor is still holding."

"We'd better go up then."

A short pause.

"Edogawa-kun?"

"Hmmm?"

"What exactly do you plan on doing when we find them?" The unasked question was right there, hanging thick and heavy in the air.

"...what would you do, Hakuba-niichan?"

Hakuba sighed. "Though I promised to be the one to arrest Kid...I don't wish to achieve that goal through something like this."

A long silence.

It felt as though the blue eyes of the small child was piercing his very soul.

And then Conan nodded, that mysterious smirk in place again. "Then let's get there before the police do."

Hakuba considered. There was something, to put it simply, off about this child. Not just the immense resourcefulness but the way he behaved and spoke. Beneath the surface, there were flashes of a different mind. A dangerous mind.

And yet, Hakuba had no choice but to trust this boy, this "Kid Killer."

"Very well," the British detective conceded, and followed the boy with the glasses to the service elevator.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: soooo the question of how coherent Kaito is at this point was raised after the last update, and the answer is that the last update was kind of an outlier, bc like the plan has just been made and the two of them had nothing to do except wait (and also Kaito just got the shock of his life from hearing Aoko say that she loved him...) so I think he just...took a little nap. Conserving energy and all that. This update brings back Kaito the "I've lost a lot of blood and i'm kind of in shock so I pepper my sentences with "..." speaker!" And then in front of bad guys, Kaito the smooth af speaker again.**

 **My excuse is that Kaito has a very, very, VERY good Poker Face. And probably compartmentalizes pain. (In reality, I just want him to sound cool lol)**

 **Also I feel the need to warn you: I kind of suck at plot. Deep emotional talks are definitely my thing. Action? Nooooot so much :P So there maybe logical fallacies and anticlimatic-ness here and there. This is coincidentally the reason that I'm updating on a Tuesday rather than a Sunday, since I second-guessed myself all the way up to this point. Sorrrrrryyyy~ the next update will be on regularly scheduled Sunday, promise!**

* * *

Aoko craned her neck, trying to see beyond the hallway. Slumped over against her shoulder, Kid tried to stifle a wheezing cough.

Moonlight fell on the floor, and she could hear their every breath against the eerie silence.

It was like they thought after all. If they steered clear of the entrances, it would almost be like they were the only two people on the floor.

Now sure they were in no immediate danger, she turned to him, voice barely audible. "You ok?"

He gave a nearly imperceptible nod.

They moved onward in silence.

The hallway opened to the observatory. Aoko stopped near the door, toeing it open just a crack.

The man-the first man who had come after them with a gun-was standing beside the display case, looking out of the window with his hands folded behind his back. Only now was she able to get a clear look at him. A dark fedora-esque hat sat on a not particularly memorable mop of black hair. She seemed to remember a drooping mustache, although now she couldn't see the front of his face anymore.

But she could definitely identify him if she saw him in a line up, which was all that had mattered. When all of this was over she was going to make her dad take a break from chasing Kaitou Kid and bring these bastards to justice instead.

Beside him, the jewel, the fake, sat glittering in its casing.

"If...he hadn't...been so….intent...on….killing me...he might have...noticed...by now…" Kid whispered, as if reading her mind.

"Either way," she whispered back, glancing down at he watch. "If we want to give Hakuba-kun and Conan-kun their best shot we need to go in now."

"Wait."

Aoko stopped.

He shifted his weight across her shoulder, distributing most of it against her hips. In this sense, not only had he positioned himself slightly in front of her, he'd also managed to prop himself back up to his full height.

"Better…" He pronounced, breathing heavily. "You...good?"

She nodded, peering worriedly up to him.

"Good. Let me...just...catch my breath…"

"Kid…" she bit her lip as she watched him, suddenly not at all sure of this now that she was here.

"Hmm?" He lifted an eyebrow.

"...Nothing." She swallowed, looking away. " Shall we?"

He nodded. Aoko reached out, hand hovering over the doorknob. There was a fraction of doubt. Her heart skipped and swelled nervously, and a thin tremor went through her arm. Beyond that door could be a number of things: freedom, a world of pain, death, even.

"Never forget...your poker... face."

The familiarity of the phrase startled her. She looked up with narrowed eyes. "What?"

"Don't show them...you're scared," He was so close his breath tickled her ear. "...fake it...till you make it...you know?"

She had definitely heard those words before. But where? Where had she heard that phrase? "Is that what you do?"

He merely smiled, a ghost of the first mysterious smirk he'd flashed at her that evening, but then there was something softer about it, something more human.

"...thank you." Without her permission, her own voice had softened. Aoko turned to face forward again, and inhaled deeply. Then her hand closed around the knob and she pulled.

The man of their nightmares turned, ever so slowly.

Mustache. Definitely mustache. Hard, glittering, calculating eyes, with just the slightest hint of malice, otherwise unreadable.

Aoko walked as steadily as she could with Kid leaning against her, and tried the best she could to make it seem like he wasn't limping.

A smile curled on the man's lips, and he gripped the gun tucked into a side holster. "We meet again, Toichi-san."

His voice made her shudder, and it was only after a moment that she processed what he actually _said_.

... _T...oichi-san…?_

Kid's grip on her arm tightened for the fraction of a millisecond and she thought she saw him grit his teeth. When his fingers drew away, they trembled, just the slightest.

"Snake," when he spoke again, though, his voice was smooth and even, if a little clipped.

She tried to steer them toward the windows, but it was as if Kid was mesmerized, glaring at their would-be killer.

"I must profess a certain admiration for your work," Snake spread his hands, " What am I going to do with you, Kaitou Kid-san? I've killed you twice already, and yet here you are."

"I'm not interested in that."

"Oh? Do you believe yourself to be invincible, even when I have you cornered?" The radio he had in his coat pocket had stirred to life.

"I've survived bullet wounds before," Kid said, lightly.

"Really?" Snake pulled his gun out, and swift as ever, pointed it downwards, and squeezed the trigger.

Kid dropped heavily onto her with a grunt of pain and Aoko screamed-"You bastard-oh god you _bastard-"-_ and god she should have expected this, should have expected everything to be _real_ and there was blood going everywhere, _again, and oh god-_

 _"_ Hey, hey," His voice was by her ear again, warm, frantic, gasping, more breath than voice and he righted himself slightly, wincing, "I'm okay-I'm-okay-"

Tears were streaming down her face as Aoko snuck a glance down at her watch. Two minutes to nine. Her heart leaped to her throat as she waited for the other hired guns to flood the room, tugging at Kid desperately as she tried to hoist them both away. They need to be by the windows _now._

"Not even _you_ are invincible, Toichi-san." The point had been made. Kaitou Kid was mortal, after all. "But even if you don't die here, today, we know who you are. How easy would it be, do you think, to track down your wife? Your son?"

His fingers dug into her arm so hard she imagined they'd leave bruises. "Leave them out of this."

"I don't think so," Snake grinned. Behind him, a small party had formed. Five, six men, in a row, guns raised, ugly black muzzles facing them glinting in the dim light.

Kid moved almost imperceptibly, pulling out his card gun.

His hand shook as he leveled it, continued to shake as he aimed, and Snake laughed, like it was just the most amusing thing, shooting it out of his hand.

The sound grated on her ears and made her blood run cold.

 _Hakuba-kun and Edogawa-kun still haven't shown up._

Snake laughed again. "Let's have a demonstration, shall we? We must, since you won't be able to make it to the real thing." He cocked the gun again, motioning behind him for his henchmen. "The inspector's daughter has _so much_ spirit. How many bullets will it take, do you think? To kill her?"

Kid angled himself in front of her.

"Don't you _dare-"_ His voice constricted and choked as he coughed. She tried desperately to keep him standing. Blood speckled her cheek and the cuff of a white sleeve, but when he looked up, Kaitou Kid was smirking.

"If I promise to give you what you're looking for, will you let her go?"

"You're in no position to be making bargains."

The smirk deepened. "Are you so very sure of that?"

A fraction of a doubt passed through Snake's face, and that was enough for Kid to produce the ruby from his pocket. The other man's gaze settled on the gem for a moment, and then flickered surreptitiously to the velvet-encased glass display box.

"That?" A light laugh. " Fake. Excellent forgery, if I do say so myself."

If he hadn't been leaning against her, if he hadn't trembled and drawn long, shuddering breaths, ribs pressing against her, if she couldn't feel rivulets of blood running onto the arm she held beneath his shoulder in thin paths, or the same warm, sticky substance against her bare calves, she wouldn't have at all guessed that he was in a bad way.

"Hold it up," Snake commanded, gritting his teeth.

"Your problem is that you seem to operate under the assumption that I'm stupid," Instead of complying, Kid drew it close to him.

"Do it or I'll tell them to open fire."

"Signal the firing squad now, and you risk putting a bullet through Pandora."

"How do I know-"

"You don't. But are you really going to risk it? Whoever's on the other end of that receiver wants this gem in one piece."

"That doesn't stop me from blowing _your_ head off," Snake snarled, leveling his gun to Kid's face.

"I told you, I don't care about that."

They'd always known it wouldn't be enough as a bargaining chip, not trapped with a roomful of armed, ruthless killers. No, they'd always just been buying themselves a little time. Aoko clung to Kid, fingers digging into his arm, bracing him and herself.

"What time is it?" He asked, quickly, in a whisper only audible to her.

"Ten seconds to nine," Her reply shook.

Snake took aim. "Now, how is it you used to end a show?"

"Go to hell," Kid bit out.

She whimpered.

Snake smiled, a cold curling of the lips. "Ah, yes. _Ladies and gentleman…"_

"Can you steady my arm?"

"What?"

"My arm."

Aoko wrapped her fingers around his wrist. He smiled wanly at her.

" _...thank you…"_

"Get ready to run."

"What?"

" _And goodnight."_

Out of nowhere a soccer ball flew into the room, knocking the gun away, eliciting a grunt of surprise from the shooter. It discharged anyway, and Aoko couldn't help the scream that tore from her throat when the bullet bounced off the floor at her feet, nicking her cheek as it ricocheted away. She squeezed her eyes shut as something popped and the room was suddenly submerged in darkness.

A loud whistle cut through the silence, and then a deafening explosion, followed by a curse, and then Kid's weight was no longer pressing into her side. She felt her arm swing upward in arc and knew more than saw that Kid had thrown the ruby, but then his sleeve was pulling out of her hold.

Aoko cracked open an eyelid.

Red light was being thrown into the room through the window every which direction, falling onto walls, the floor, the casing, everywhere, and showers of sparks, accompanied by more claps that shook the floor like thunder, burst in the night sky.

 _Fireworks. Fireworks, in a firefight._

The group of men that had been on standby before opened fire, ignoring the yells of their leader to "Hold, you imbeciles-we don't know where the jewel is-" and sparks flew around her feet, too.

She yelped, and dove to the side. The carpet scraped and burned along the length of her leg.

A hand closed around her arm, pulling her to her feet, and Aoko screamed, thrashing.

"Aoko, Aoko, it's ok-" And there was that voice again, that voice that she'd gotten to known in the space of an evening. The relief that flooded through her was immeasurable.

"Oh thank god-" she'd barely managed to get out when pain erupted in her leg as a bullet went through her calf.

"Shit," Beside her, his face twisted and his breath caught in his throat.

They'd shot him through her. The bastards shot him _through her._

Before they'd even had time to react, another soccer ball had curved from the darkness, hitting their attacker square in the face.

"Go," he urged her. "Hakuba's...over there, at the stairwell." He heaved in a breath and tried to contain the cough, "...If you go down...you should be able to get through the blockades-"

"You've been shot three times and I'm _not_ leaving you here," she snapped, trying to ignore the burning pain in her leg-how did he manage it, working through this kind of pain? Was it that so called poker face?

"I'll be fine-" he pushed her, although she got the feeling that the full force was dulled by the fact that he was shaking all over.

"Kid," she growled.

"Just go," he pleaded. "Get out of here."

And then his gaze settled on something behind her. "Hakuba."

She felt a hand around her elbow, and turned.

The brit stood, silent and unruffled as ever. His head dipped in a barely noticeable nod.

"Hakuba-kun, I-"

"Aoko-san, it's best that we go."

Another hail of bullets landed their direction. Kid cursed. "Go," he called over his shoulder as he moved away from them as quickly as he could, leaning heavily on the pillars in the room. "Get her out of here and join a crowd as soon as you can."

"Wait," Aoko threw her head back as Hakuba dragged her away, "What about you-?"

"I'm going to get tantei-kun."

She watched the scene behind her dazedly as her (former) arch-nemesis limped into the darkness toward something Aoko could not see, watched as red light was cast onto his white ensemble every few seconds. It was the only way she could clearly make out any figures in the darkness. Now, hidden in relative safety, she could see that only a few men remained conscious and standing. There were a few deflated soccer balls lying around, and Hakuba was holding what appeared to be a thin steel rod like a sword.

And then the final firework took off, exploding just outside the window in a glorious bloom of red and gold sparks, illuminating the entire room.

Her eyes stung from the light, but that didn't keep her from seeing what was going on.

Kid was walking toward a figure standing at the far end of the room.

Aoko's breath caught in her chest.

For a moment there was silence. Complete silence.

Snake. But not just Snake. In his arms was a child, and a gun barrel was pressed against the smaller head. Edogawa Conan struggled valiantly, but he was just too damn small.

"Snake," Kid intoned, evenly, and she once again had to marvel at how he did that. A moment ago, he'd sounded so broken, so tired, and now it was like he didn't have a care in the world. "The one you want is me. Let the kid go."

"Don't play games with me," the man warned.

The half-smile on Kid's face froze and disappeared.

Snake was a little worse for wear than she'd last seen him, but nothing too serious, to Aoko's dismay. Trigger happy as ever.

"Pick that up," he said to Kid, jerking his head in the direction of the ruby, now glittering on the floor.

She wanted to cry out. To run out. To save this little child that didn't deserve to be here, but something in the air was _dangerous_ and, watching Snake's finger twitch against the trigger, Aoko stayed frozen to the spot in silent horror.

Kid did as he was told. "Do whatever you want but _let the kid go_."

Behind her, Hakuba moved, just barely.

"Shut up," Snake growled, "Hold it up to the light."

Kid shut his mouth with an audible click. His hands shook when he raised the jewel up to catch the light of the full moon, once again visible through the glass.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened.

"I knew it." Snake's fingers were twitching at the trigger again as he lifted the gun, keeping Conan-kun in a headlock, and he smiled, bloody, terrible, triumphant, as he cocked the gun and pointed it right between Kid's eyes. "Now it's time to send you all to hell."

A gunshot sounded right next to Aoko's ear and she gasped.

Snake jerked to one side, fury alight in his eyes. His gun clattered to the ground.

Hakuba stepped out into the light next to her, and fired again.

The blood spray was visible this time.

For a moment everything was still.

And then Snake's arm around the boy with the glasses loosened. His jaw went slack, still frozen in that maniacal grin he'd had.

"Don't look," Hakuba advised. His hand trembled slightly, and so did his voice, normal composure gone, but Aoko couldn't tear her eyes away.

Snake fell, and, stained with someone else's blood, Conan managed to stumble away toward safety, away, away, away-

Oh god. The oppressive atmosphere of the room deflated and Aoko was suddenly unsure what to do.

Hakuba walked away from her, loosening his grip on the pistol he'd picked up from a knocked out thug on the floor until it slipped through his fingers. He seemed dazed as he made his way across the room to check on Conan.

 _"_ Aoko," someone was saying her name. " _Aoko."_

She stumbled forward, knees wobbly, toward the source of the voice.

It was him. Him. Kaitou Kid.

Her hand found its way into his blood-stained lapel even as his cupped her face, and she shivered at how cold his fingers were. Aoko found herself staring up at clear, glassy eyes again.

"It's okay now, isn't it?" She clung to him desperately. "It's over?"

"It's-" He gasped and choked, "Aoko-"

"Please, just tell me it's over-"

"Aoko-"

She could have stopped him. Could have twisted away. Could have done so many things. But for some unfathomable, immutable reason, Aoko stood, perfectly still, as he stumbled forward, just an inch, and pressed his lips to hers.

"I'm sorry-" She felt more than heard his breath, ghosting over her lips. "-I love you-"

And then his eyes, lapis lazuli blue, rolled back into his head and he crashed to the floor.

Aoko opened her mouth and screamed.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Short update, sorry guys~ Back to my 1K words per chapter count haha. But I think I packed enough stuff into the last two chapters to warrant a bit of a cool down, no? In any case, the fic is wrapping up. This is the second to last chapter, so there'll only be one more before we're all done. I don't have that one quite finished yet, but it will be soon!**

 **Thank you all so much for your continued support~ I can't tell you how much everyone's feedback is helping. Also shoutout to kaitothegreat, who is the 42nd reviewer of this fic. Answer to life, amirite?**

 **I know some things can be confusing, especially since when I write action I tend to rely on narrators and the narrator (especially in Aoko's slightly dazed possibly terrified case) may not always be reliable. To sum up the injury count: Kaito's been shot three times since the beginning of this thing, two times by Snake and one time by Random Lackey #1. Aoko's got a clean bullet wound through the fleshy part of her calf (so superficial bleeding, a lot of pain, but you know, not fatal), also by Random Lackey #1. Snake...is p ded, bc Hakuba was like "OH NO HE'S HOLDING A SMALL CHILD HOSTAGE GUESS I HAVE TO SHOOT HIM NOW." Uh...Hakuba feels bad about that...but I don't?**

* * *

"Turn him over, Aoko-neechan," a small, thin voice said. "Let gravity do the world. The paramedics should be here soon."

Dazedly, Aoko did as she was told. The dead weight in her arms barely moved when she pushed. But now, at least, she couldn't see his face anymore.

 _Don't look don't look don't look._ Her lips still tingled from the ghost of _his_ breath. _Don't_ _want to know._

Conan looked tired-tired beyond any seven year old had the right to be-and turned to regard the other teenager he'd been working with for the better part of the evening. "Hakuba-niichan…do you need to sit down?"

The british detective didn't respond. He stood, staring fixedly at his hands.

"Hakuba-niichan?"

"No," he said all too quickly, breaking out of his trance. And then added, softer, when he saw the hesitant blue-eyed gaze. "I'm fine."

Aoko knew he wasn't. Not really. But there were a lot of things that all of them weren't, in that moment. Fake it until you make it, right? _Never forget your poker face..._

The child nodded, looking away. "We should clear away the blockades." That was when his phone rang.

"Hello?"

" _Conan-kun, where are you?"_ A shrill female voice came from the other end of the receiver. " _You say you're going to the bathroom and then disappear, while there's an armed and dangerous criminal loose in the building-do you have any idea how worried I am?"_

"Ah...Sorry, Ran-neechan." A quiet smile, something like relief shining through not-so-childish features, and then it was like a switch was flipped, and something about his voice changed. "I'm with Hakuba Saguru-niichan on the observatory deck. You know, the cool detective. He defeated all the bad guys. Nakamori Aoko-neechan's here too."

" _Thank goodness-everyone's ok right? You're ok, Conan-kun? Someone called an ambulance, and I thought-"_

 _"_ I'm fine, Ran-neechan. But," a side-way look at the figure on the floor, "Someone got shot."

" _Oh god-who? Wait, I'll put you on the phone with the paramedics!"_

The paramedics. God, the paramedics. The police. Her father.

They were finally going to arrest Kid.

Only now there was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach and she wasn't so sure it was right anymore. At least, not like this.

Aoko's fingers shook with the urge to do _something_. Her leg stung with pain and she could feel the blood on her skin now that the adrenaline was beginning to ebb away. She was covered in dust and blood and she glared, as if wanting to willfully force the beginnings of a breakdown out of her system, to force any trace of her having been here tonight out of sight and out of mind.

So she did the next best thing. She kept her mind blank. Staring resolutely at the carpet in front of her, she thought of nothing more than to take a warm bath and pass out. To go to school the next day. To going back to normal and pretending this never happened. No, Aoko skirted around the one thing that she was not ready to deal with yet.

"-No, I don't know who he is. He's been shot-" Conan raised an eyebrow at Aoko.

"...Huh? Uh...oh," She cleared her throat, swallowing. "Chest over an hour ago, foot and calf just barely."

Conan repeated into the phone. "-Yes, he's lost a lot of blood-Say, Aoko-neechan, do you know Nii-chan's bloodtype?"

Aoko turned to stare at Conan, blinking owlishly.

"He'll probably need a transfusion," Conan clarified.

She hesitated.

" _B-_."

Before she could speak, the deeper voice had come from behind her.

"What?" Her breath caught in her chest and she turned sharply.

"B-," Hakuba repeated, a little louder.

Conan was already saying it into his cell phone receiver.

 _B-. That person has B- blood type too._

 _What was the probability?_

She bit down, hard, on her lip.

"How do you know that?" Aoko demanded quietly, shaking. Her fingers curled into fists unbeknownst to herself and she held herself taut, ready to do something, anything, a defensive spring coiled too tight, ready to snap.

"Think about it, Aoko-san," Hakuba met her gaze sorrowfully. His voice was low, subdued, no sense of triumph whatsoever from this truth he was now revealing. "How _do_ I know that?"

The pieces had been floating, suspended, at her will. Kept apart, pushed apart, never allowed to fall into place, because she simply hadn't wanted to see it, simply didn't have the time to see it, all night.

" _Aoko."_

 _Bright blue eyes, glittering like glass._

 _His fingers against her cheek, his willingness to do whatever it was to keep her safe._

 _The familiar scent of shampoo, his hair between her fingers._

 _The way Snake had called Kid, "Toichi-san."_

 _His face, inches away from hers. "-I'm sorry-" and then, and then-_

 _"Hello,"_ she could almost hear the smirk in his voice, could almost see brightly colored petals blossoming out of thin air. " _My name is Kuroba Kaito. Nice to meet you."_

And she promised. She knew she promised. But this had gone on for far too long. She didn't want her fears to be confirmed as impersonally as seeing his empty desk the next day, didn't want her fears to be confirmed by the fact that she might never see him again.

She had to know, _now._

As gently as she could, she shifted Kid to the side.

The little round piece of shining glass was all that stood between her and the truth. Her fingers worried at the edge of it, and Aoko released a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Behind her, Hakuba and Conan stared.

And then she peeled it off.

And there it was, his familiar face, emerging behind the facade. The curve of his mouth, the point of his nose, features of a face she'd known since childhood.

Her vision blurred with tears as she reached out with a shaking hand to brush the hair out of his eyes. " _Kaito…"_ '

Hakuba and Conan exchanged looks.

There was absolute stillness for a moment. Conan talked softly on the phone. Hakuba turned away and quietly went about dismantling whatever structures Snake and his lackeys had put in place to block the entrances. Aoko sat with her head bowed, the limp figure of her best friend and worst enemy pillowed in her lap.

And then Aoko's fingers wrapped around the monocle so tight it dug long, red lines into her palm, and she looked up, eyes ablaze.

Behind them, the doors burst open. Whatever blockades the culprit had set up had been broken. It was finally, truly over. Aoko watched, with the same blazing eyes, as police filled the room.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: AAAAND THE END! Holy crap guys, this is my first finished fic EVER. And it's all thanks to every single one of you~ Thank you so much for sticking with me for the last two months and giving me feedback and pointing out my little mistakes and plot holes. Every single one of you is amazing and I love you all.**

 **And now, shameless self-advertisement time~ If you're into KaiAo, I'm writing some AUs ("Aftershocks" is an angsty immortals!au and "Riddle me This" is an Inception AU, there will be a regency AU coming soon), you can find those on my profile. And if you're into angst or ShinRan, or a combination of those two things, "Feel What You Know" is a ShinRan ten years later au with a twist. Other than that, I write for canon pairs in general, if anyone is interested :D All of these are not yet finished, but I'd be honored if you'd drop by and visit~**

 **And now, without further ado, the final chapter~**

* * *

Pain.

Every single cell in his body screamed in protest as he turned onto his back.

Where was he?

There was a faint beeping behind him, and the scent of antiseptic stung at his nose.

Hospital then?

Kaito forced one eye open, and then the other.

He blinked. Dimly he seemed to remember someone screaming before his world had gone black. Aoko? What stupid stunt had he pulled this time?

The girl in question, asleep in an uncomfortable looking plastic chair, shifted.

His breath caught in his throat as the memories came flooding back and he remembered the heist, Aoko's pale face, gunfire, and blood blossoming like roses on Kid's suit.

 _Shit._

She knew, didn't she? She knew everything.

Experimentally he lifted his hand, and was surprised to find that he had not been cuffed to the hospital bed.

Perhaps Nakamori-keibu knew too, then, and this would be a small concession, made toward the boy he'd known since he was a child, a final courtesy before Kaito would be carted off to jail.

The girl in the chair turned fitfully. "Kaito?"

He froze.

Aoko rubbed red-rimmed eyes, blinking as she came awake. Her blue-eyed gaze settled on him.

He held his breath.

Her brows furrowed together and she bit down hard on her lip, tears already brimming, hands fisted into the material of her skirt.

Dammit. He'd made her cry again.

"Aoko-"

"Don't."

His heart sank to his feet.

She hated him. Of course she hated him. Given the choice between her morals, her father, and him, he knew he'd always lose.

God, let her hear him out. Please hear him out. "Aoko," he tried again, " I can explain-" the words were already tumbling out of his mouth when she started to her feet and stalked across the room. Kaito half expected her to hit him, but then she'd crawled onto the hospital bed and her cool, slender fingers were threading through his hair, and she was pulling his face up toward hers, eyes glittering, searching.

And then she kissed him.

It didn't taste like blood this time. It tasted like _her_ , like something familiar, like something he'd been longing for all this time, only he hadn't known it. Kaito's hands found their way to her waist and he propped himself up on his elbows to meet her better.

"Aoko-" he said dazedly, breathlessly as she pulled away.

"Shhh," Aoko's voice was hoarse from what must have been crying. "I want to know everything, and I want you to tell me. But for now," her fingers brushed across his cheek and her gaze flickered impatiently from one spot to the next, as if she was afraid the parts she couldn't see would disappear, "For now, you're _alive,_ and I love you. Everything else can wait."

A kind of warmth he'd never known before flooded into him, thawing the frozen expanse in his chest where a hollow had once been. Something swelled in that left-ish place beneath his ribcage, and his eyes became suspiciously wet. Kaito pulled Aoko into his arms, pressing his face into her shoulder.

"Thank you," he breathed, shaking, into her hair. "I thought-I thought you'd hate me."

"Bakaito," she admonished gently.

He held her tighter, hissing when her arms knocked into his chest.

"Bakaito," she said again, pulling away, brows furrowed with worry. "You shouldn't do that. The bullet you...took for me," Aoko finished shyly, swallowing and looking away, "It tore through your lung and then lodged itself in a rib. No hugs for you in the near future. No flying either, unless you want your lung to collapse again. The other two injuries didn't seem to leave lasting damage, but you were in surgery for a day and then you were out for another three, and you scared me half to death. You won't be able to walk for a while, but the doctors said your foot should heal just fine."

"And you?" Anxiety suddenly gripped his insides, and he didn't care to duck as his fingers ghosted over the skin of her calf. "Your leg…?"

"I'm fine. They patched me up in no time," she assured, and instead of finding the nearest mop, leaned down to kiss him again.

Behind them, a door creaked open, and someone cleared their throat.

Aoko turned beet red as Nakamori-keibu came through the door, and clambered quickly off of the bed and back to her seat.

"Am I interrupting something?" The inspector raised a stern eyebrow.

Kaito swallowed. "No, sir."

"Don't worry," there was danger, but also a small amount of gruff amusement in Nakamori-keibu's eyes. "There isn't exactly a law in place that lets me arrest you for kissing my daughter. Mind you, I would if I could."

Kaito paled visibly.

"Tou-san," Aoko interrupted dangerously.

Nakamori-keibu waved her away good-naturedly. "Kidding aside, I'm here to get your statement, Kaito-kun."

"My...statement?" Kaito looked helplessly to Aoko. To be honest, the fact that she hadn't told her father his identity came as enough of a shock. He hadn't even considered the possibility that she might have gone to the length of coming up with a cover story for him.

"Tou-san, can't we do this another day?" Aoko stood again, coming to hover protectively over him. "Kaito just woke up, and he nearly died."

"I know. Believe me, I know. But we can't withhold a statement any longer. The media is convinced that you were with Kid the entire time."

"But that's stupid," Aoko said, a little too quickly. "He was never there."

"And the sooner Kaito-kun releases his statement, the sooner he's cleared of that suspicion."

Aoko sighed. "Fine. But could I just have a few moments with him? Alone? He's probably a little confused."

Nakamori-keibu raised his eyebrow again, in a way that made both teenagers blush bright red, but neglected to do anything aside from give Kaito a warning look before leaving the room.

"So," Kaito swallowed, staring after the inspector, still a little bit shocked that he wasn't in handcuffs yet, "What is my statement?"

She sat down at the edge of his bed. "You followed me upstairs and got shot. I dragged you into a closet, administered first aid and saved your life. And then we waited until Hakuba-kun and Conan-kun came to rescue us."

He stared at her.

She flushed. "I know it's not the best story I could have come up with but I thought it would be easier for me if I stayed as close to the truth as possible-"

"No," his voice was choked with emotion. Aoko, the Aoko that hated Kaitou Kid and often voiced aloud exactly how much she wanted him dead, the Aoko that hadn't so much as told a single lie all her life, had betrayed her own principles to save _him._ Not Kid. He knew she still had little love for that side of his personality. _Him._ Kaito. She'd done it to save him, despite knowing who he was, despite knowing what he's done.

"Thank you."

The smile on her face grew a little morose and he knew she knew what he was thanking her for.

"I...don't understand why you do it. Or even, really, what it is you do." Aoko twisted a strand of her dark hair absently. "And...I'm mad, and hurt, that you lied to me and used me...so you'd better give me a damn good excuse."

So he did. He told her everything.

When he was done she wasn't exactly crying, but she looked like she wanted to.

His heart was in his throat again, and his voice was hoarse. "I really am sorry."

"I know. I gathered as much. You...told me so. They were your 'last words.' Or...would have been." Aoko bit her lip and reached out to take his hand, as if to reassure herself he was in fact, still alive. "I promise I will be angry later. I'll yell and hit you with a mop but...but..."

The conflict behind her eyes tore him to shreds all over again. "You can take a raincheck for that. Hit me with a mop whenever you want."

That released a watery chuckle from her lips.

There was silence again. This time, not so uncomfortable.

"So the story about Pandora...it's true?

"Yes," he said, "Every bit."

"I understand why you can't go to the police about that...but...Toichi-oji-san's death..."

"He was the original Kaitou Kid. And Snake...Snake and _them_. _They_ killed him. I couldn't go to the police because they would never believe me. That, and if _they_ ever found out who I was...everyone around me would be in danger." Kaito's spirits sank as he played back the conversation he'd had with Snake. _They_ thought he was his father, and _they_ knew that his father had a wife and son, which means he was in danger, his mother was in danger, and everyone around him would be in danger. His panic must have shown in his eyes because Aoko reached out to take his hand.

"You don't have to worry about that," she assured gently. "Hakuba-kun...took care of it."

Before he could ask any questions-he remembered Snake's death clearer than anything in that last half hour, but he wanted every detail for dissection and review-Hakuba himself came in.

"Kuroba," the Brit greeted, tolerably pleasant. But Kaito could tell that there was something off, something haunted in his eyes, something that made warning bells go off in his head. "I'm taking your statement instead. Nakamori-keibu had to deal with press."

Kaito's brain was running faster than a freight train, already mapping out all the possible ways to escape the room with an IV still in his arm, and was fully prepared to rattle off exactly what Aoko had told him a moment ago.

Hakuba put up a hand. "No need. I know your story."

"And," Aoko cut in. "He also took care of your gear." Hakuba glared at the girl, who crossed her arms and smiled sweetly up at him.

"...there was blood all over it. The task force would have been able to put two and two together from DNA samples." Hakuba admitted grudgingly. "I had to burn it."

"Hakuba…" Though he suspected some part of Hakuba probably enjoyed that, Kaito inclined his head anyway. He knew the weight that accompanied the action. Hakuba was a detective, which meant that by helping Kaito, he was betraying everything he stood for. Much like Aoko was. That same feeling, part gratitude, part affection for these people he cared about who cares about him, swelled up in his chest. "Thank you."

A nearly humorless smile twitched at a bloodless lip. "Now Kaitou Kid owes me a favor."

"I will do anything short of letting you arrest me."

"...Then let me help you."

Kaito had to double take. "What?"

"Let me help you," Hakuba clarified, "Those men that were after you seem like they should be a higher priority than capturing Kid. Besides, from what Aoko-san told me, they know your father was the first Kid. It wouldn't be long before they came after you and your mother."

"And if you help me, it wouldn't be long till they start going after you. And I can't...I can't risk the people around me. People I care about. That's part of the reason why I never told you," Kaito turned to Aoko, hoped to God that she'd understand. "This is my fight. My tou-san's fight. And I have to be the one to finish it."

"And ours, Kaito, is to catch Kid," Aoko said, putting her hands on her hips. A second's pause, and then she blushed. "Besides, I'm not letting some men in black kill him now that I've finally caught him."

"I agree with Aoko-san on that front. You're not allowed to die until we can arrest you."

"Or you could just arrest him now," A small childish voice came from the doorway.

Aoko turned around, glaring.

"Kidding," the boy in the glasses smiled, a little too sly.

Hakuba let out an uncharacteristic groan. "How many times have I told you-"

"It's too dangerous?" Tantei-kun walked in, hands in his pockets. He nodded in acknowledgement. "You should thank Ran... _neechan_ , by the way. If she hadn't offered to donate blood to you on the way to the hospital, you'd be dead by now." The shrunken detective said, lifting his blue eyed gaze to look Kaito dead in the eye, "and as for too dangerous...that's a risk we all have to take, right?"

A long pause.

A boy stared at another boy. They had nothing, and yet everything in common. A seven year old, and a seventeen year old, a detective and a thief, both too smart for their own good, both hiding from a black shadow looming over their past, over their present, over their future.

Somewhere far away, perhaps down the hall, perhaps around the corner, a girl who looked perhaps just a little too much like Aoko was wandering the floor worriedly, calling for her little Conan-kun.

They shared the same demons, the same worries, the same fears. The same situation.

And for now, that was enough.

"Am I missing something?" to the side, Hakuba mused to Aoko. Aoko shrugged.

For now, it meant a truce.

Besides, now that his friends knew, who was he really fooling? Hakuba got into more than enough trouble on his own, and Aoko was certainly stubborn enough to start stalking Kid to heists.

A smirk began to grow on Kaito's face. "...I suppose." he allowed.

"Kuroba, does that mean-?"

"Yeah," Kaito shrugged. "You can help. Knowing Ahouko, she's going to insist anyway. And then she's going to do something stupid and I'll have to save her again." He squeezed her hand affectionately, and accepted her yelled "Bakaito!" and accompanied light smack with grace.

And then he yawned. He hadn't really meant to. Things were kicking off. He should be planning something or discussing something with one of the detectives. Listing the boundaries. Explaining away the enigma of the Kaitou Kid. But the blood loss must have been getting to him.

"Of course, I'd like a reasonable explanation as to why your less than legal night job also involves you being shot at," Hakuba put in. "I'll need _some_ kind of excuse to justify the aiding and abetting we've been doing."

Aoko glared at him until he relented.

"I'll get your statement to Nakamori-keibu," the usually reserved detective chuckled. "It seems as though the Magician under the Moonlight needs to sleep."

"Piss off, Hakuba."

"Already done, Kuroba." The brit waved a hand over his shoulder as he left the room.

"I should go too," Tantei-kun said, when his phone began to ring. "Ran-neechan's probably looking for me."

"And I-" Aoko was about to get up and leave too, before he tugged her back by her hand, still joined to his.

"Stay?"

The puppy eyes were very skillfully employed.

There was a moment of silence.

Aoko rolled her eyes, resolve snapping. "Move over then, you big baby."

He did. It was hard to find a comfortable enough way for two bodies to fit on one small hospital bed, without some part of her jamming into his already bruised and very tender ribs, but they managed, somehow, and before long she was pressed against him and his nose was in her hair.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Go to sleep.".

"I will. But...before I do...I just wanted to..."

"What?"

"Tell you I'm sorry. Again.I know...I don't always...I laugh a lot of things off, but I can't do that to this. I can't do that to you. An apology doesn't mean much, I know. Not when I've...done...some incredibly shitty things to you. But I just…"

"Kaito...I can't exactly tell you I agree with all of your choices. I can't exactly tell you that I'm okay with the stuff you've been doing, to me, or otherwise. And I haven't forgiven you, not yet. But...I think, some day, I'll be able to." She glanced over her shoulder, smiling, tiredly. "If you're willing to try, then I'm willing to try, ok?"

"...Ok." His arm went around her waist. She held his hand, and closed her eyes.

So they weren't quite right, two teenagers that were perhaps a little too old for their age and didn't, weren't able to love each other the way they had before. So they were a little bit broken, a little out of shape, a little bit bent. So that red thread of fate, the string that connected them had been tangled and stretched a little farther than it should have been, pulled taut and then released, thin, long, unwinding.

They were somewhere in the middle. Between right and wrong, between love and hate, between destiny and something of their own making. Limbs tangled, hair mussed, cheek to cheek, different, but still the same, the inspector's daughter was in the phantom thief's arms, and Aoko Nakamori was in Kaito Kuroba's.

They were a living, breathing oxymoron that had been declared simply impossible. And yet, they were.

"But you have to promise me one thing." She said, after a long silence.

The world was still upside down.

"Hmm?"

Their hearts were still inside out.

"No more lying."

But black was melting into white.

"Never," He vowed into her hair.

And they met each other halfway in the sea of gray.

So maybe they were right. Maybe they were wrong. Maybe both were both at one point or another.

It didn't matter, because this was _exactly_ where they were always meant to be.

* * *

 **THE END**


End file.
